Does God Answer Your Prayers?: Principles of Prayers From the Scriptures and Applied by Saints.

By Chacko Varghese

Does God answer prayers? If he does, what is the timing? What prayers does God answer? Does God answer according to our expectation or differently? How important is God's will in answering prayers? This book answers to those questions and explains how important and essential praying daily is to grow and continue our relationship with God. It contains the prayers of many of the biblical men and women and the principles we can learn from them. Also, this book explains the purpose and reasons behind prayer and why it is important in our lives on earth. It explains how prayer helps us move closer to God and spiritually grow and stay in faith with God. This book explains how God was moved by the prayers of his servants and his children in difficult circumstances. It also proves that our God is a prayer-answering God. Also, this book provides information from the prayers of the apostles and church fathers, including St. Paul, St. Augustine, and Martin Luther, the reformer of the church. This book explains the different types of prayers. There is also a chapter on our Lord's Prayer and how he taught us to pray. How can prayer change things, move the hand of God, change a person's life, move mountains blocking the path to success in our lives, and solve life's problems? God's blessings and wonders by prayers are all discussed in this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644715833

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Does God Answer Your Prayers?

Principles of Prayers From the Scriptures and Applied by Saints.

Chacko Varghese

ISBN 978-1-64471-582-6 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64471-583-3 (Digital)

Copyright © 2019 Chacko Varghese

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

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Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

About Prayer

Why We Must Pray

To Establish and Build Relationship with God Our Father

Our Prayers Glorify God

To Receive from God

A Quick Guide for Prayer

Different Levels of Prayers

Adoration

Communication

Communion

Confession

Contrition

Entreaty

Intercession

Petition

Supplication

Travail

Praying in the Spirit

Prayers of Great Men of God

Prayers and Confessions of Saint Augustine: A Church Father

Prayers from the Confessions of Saint Augustine

Prayers of Martin Luther

Luther’s Morning Prayer22

Luther’s Evening Prayer23

Martin Luther’s Prayer (General)

Karl Barth’s Prayers

Prayers of Martin Luther King Jr.

A Collection of Prayers of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.29

Distorted and Destroyed Our Relationships

About Dr. King’s Prayers

From the Best of John Wesley’s Prayers

Teaching on Prayer from a Bible Teacher

Prayers of Great Men and Women of God

Hanna’s Prayer

Isaac’s Prayer

Jacob’s Prayers

The Prophet Samuel’s Prayers

The Prayers of Job

The Prayers of David

David’s Public Prayer

The Prayers of Solomon

God Appeared before Solomon

Solomon’s Prayer before the Altar of God

God Answers Solomon’s Prayer

Jehoshaphat’s Prayer

Isaiah’s Prayer

Hezekiah’s Prayer at the Threat of Sennacherib

Hezekiah’s Prayer on His Illness

Jeremiah’s Prayers

Another Prayer of Jeremiah

A Psalm of Asaph

Prayer of Jabez

Elijah’s Prayers

The Great Intercessory Prayers of Men and Women in the Bible

Daniel’s Prayers

Nehemiah’s Prayers

Ezra’s Prayers

The First Prayers of Ezra and the People

The People’s Confession of Sin

Abraham

The Prayer of Esther

Moses Interceded for His People

A Prayer of Moses, The Man of God

Standing in the Gap or Intercession

Highlights in Prayer

Praying in the Spirit

How to Pray

Pray in Conformity with His Person, Character, and Nature and Recognize Who He Is

Jesus Our Eternal Priest

Principles of Prayer Taught by Jesus Christ

Protocol of Prayer

Teaching of Jesus on Fasting

Prayer Model Taught by Jesus

God’s Kingdom Takes Out the Old Curse and Brings the New Blessing

Prayer of Two Men: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Pray with Faith

Need to Worship and Love God

The Personal Prayer Life of Jesus

The Whole Night Prayer of Jesus before Choosing the Twelve Apostles

The Prayer Habits of Jesus

Jesus Praying in Private

Jesus Praying

Jesus Prays to Be Glorified

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

Jesus Prays for All Believers

Prayers of the Disciples of Jesus

Section 4

Prayers of the New Testament Believers

Cornelius’s Prayer

The Earnest Prayer of the Church for Peter

The Believers’ Prayer at the Treat of Religious Leaders

Paul and Silas Prayed in Jail

Apostle Paul’s Prayers

The Apostle’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for Believers in Colossae

Prayer for Philippian Believers

Prayer and Request for Prayer

Exhortation on Prayers to Thessalonian and Ephesian Believers

Why God Does Not Answer Prayers in Conformity with Our Request

The Apostle Paul’s Prayer and God’s Answer

The Subjects of Prayer

Prayer for the Sick

Fervent Prayer

The Results of Prayer

A Mother’s Prayers

The Prayer of the Anonymous

Conclusion

Bibliography

About the Author

References

To my mother, the late Thankamma Chacko, for her dedicated prayer life and teaching me to pray and her prayers that protected and provided for her children.

To my father, the late Geevarughese Chacko, for his quite time with God and great faith that God will bless his children.

To my wife Lizyamma Varghese for a reminder, how our parent’s prayers blessed us and our own daily morning and evening prayers to guide and enlighten us.

To my children, Josh, Janeen, and Jensine, to build up a relationship with God through prayer life.

Preface

Prayer is the element of communication with God and may be the only mode of communication with God. Prayer is meant to be a request or call in time of need, distress, difficulty, or things impossible by an individual to a person or persons of higher power. It can be a need for immediate assistance or for a certain time or a life-sustaining need. It seems like everyone in the universe needs the assistance of someone or something. Prayer is meant to be between the creations of lower level of life looking up to the assistance of a higher level of power, but most importantly calling upon or looking upon the help of the one who is able to and willing to help or more clearly calling upon to the one who is self-sustaining and self-existing. There is only one such person in the universe who we call God. To the people of the world, they have their choice of gods and goddesses. Man makes their own gods according to the desire of their hearts. But the Bible talks about one true God who is the real, while others are man-made or unreal. Even from the creation of the humanity, and the fall of man, they were searching to fill the vacuum created in them by the denial of the true God who created them and all other visible and the invisible beings and things.

Man knows that that they by themselves are not self-sustaining beings—they need the assistance of the higher power. The creator had placed every creation needed in order, before he created the living beings, including man. God placed the right amount of heat and cold and air, water and moisture, dew, etc. By his word, God created vegetables, fruits, and herbs for the diet of these living beings. But the fall of man created a number of troubles and disorders in nature, and the earth did not produce fruits and vegetables; instead, man’s hard work produced weeds, thorns, and thistles. Additionally, because of man’s sin, earth’s atmosphere was damaged. But God still had provided man all he needed—to depend on God for his sustenance.

One of the reasons for the need of prayer is for God to provide for the needs of humanity. Even though fellowship with God is the primary need, man has to have time in prayer. God is able to meet all our needs according to his richness in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Even though God knows our needs, it is our duty as God’s children to pray for our needs. It is a communication throughout life to God our father through Jesus Christ our Lord. We know that we ask God everything we need through Jesus Christ our Lord, because the only way to access God is through Jesus Christ our savior. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and life, and without me no one gets to the father (John 14:16). And Jesus said, If you ask anything in my name it will be given to you (Matthew 18:19; Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 14:13; John 15:7).

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you (John 14:16, NIV).

Jesus said that he is the one who chose us, not that we chose him, and we should abide in him and produce fruits. We, the children of God, have such a great promise that our needs will be provided. This is one of the benefits of being the children of God that we have the privilege of speaking to the father in heaven. God hears the cries of not only humanity but also the animals and birds.

According to Psalm 104:10–11, He sends the springs to the valleys and they flow among the hills, and he give drinks to every beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Who provides food for the raven when its young cries out to God and wanders about for lack of food? (Job 38:41, NIV). God asked this question to Job, and by this word, he pointed out his concern and care on his creations. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call (Psalm 147:9, NIV).

God provides enough water to the earth so it produces trees, green vegetation, and grass, thus providing food for the animals and shelter for the birds. The earth produces food for man and oil to shine his face. Even the young lions cry to God for their food (Psalm 104:14–22). Every one of his creations is satisfied with God’s provisions. Therefore, the food from all sources and all sorts are given from God’s established system of the nature. But fellowship with God is not there, since it was broken by the sin of Adam and Eve. We must pray not only for our need that comes beyond what is directly available to us but also for our fellowship with God.

Jesus also said, But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man (‘Son of Man’ is a title Jesus used for himself) can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval (John 6:27, NLT). When the first parents sinned, we lost our eternal life and then our fellowship with God the father. We would achieve both of these by praying to God and believing in his son Jesus Christ.

According to the Bible, those who come to God must believe that God exists and he rewards who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6). Today, there might be so many searching the true God. The true God had already presented himself and appeared to humanity. If someone is searching for the true knowledge, the Bible is available, so give it a try. There are also many books written God, such as When You Meet God and others. The true God will answer the prayers.

In the history of Israel, there was prophet named Elijah, who had proved who the true God is—the God who answers the prayers by fire!

When the people saw that the true God is not the idols of Baal and Asherah, people fell down and confessed, The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God! (1 Kings 18:39)

There is no other God like Jehovah.

Prayer is the only way for the first and succeeding communication and communion with God. In the time of communion, we tell God everything—all our pain, hardships, frustration, and sufferings. We can talk, cry, enjoy his presence, and receive the father’s embraces. We want to spend our entire life with him. In fact, once we establish our relationship with him, he will never leave us or forsake us. That is exactly what Jesus said.

I will be with you till the end of the ages. (Matthew 28:20)

But that doesn’t end with him, God, and the Holy Spirit; but we will live with God in eternity.

The God of Elijah still answers prayers of his people. The Bible says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). It is evident from the Old Testament that what goes on in a temple are praise, thanksgiving, and worship. Therefore, in Romans 12:1, Paul exhorts to submit your bodies as living sacrifice to God. So we are the temple of God, and worship takes place in and by our body, and our body is submitted as a living sacrifice. There is no more sacrificial animal since our Lord had performed that part of sacrifice once for all. So our body needs to be consumed by the fire of the Holy Spirit so that our sins will be purified and cleansed. This is not for salvation, but for the sanctification and continuous holy living before God.

He is the everlasting, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God. Our problems are not a problem for him, because he created all things. He can change and transform anything anywhere and anytime. He can transform the hearts of people. He can take care of all our smaller and bigger needs. But we just need to pour our hearts in his presence. He is the Jehovah Jireh, El Shaddai, El Elyon, Jehovah-Nissi, and Jehovah-Rapha—the prayer-answering God. We can go to his throne of grace at any place and at any time.

Introduction

Prayer is something that connects the natural to the supernatural, the mortal to the immortal. Prayer is the method of communication between the creation and its creator. The mortal is spiritually weak and feeble, unless energized by the power from the supernatural. The mortal is made of flesh and blood and a spirit in it, but dead if not regenerated by the creator by faith in Christ. A skeleton to keep the stature, muscles, organs, nerve cells, nerve fibers, sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, and ligaments and joints make up the mortal body. But the supernatural person is a spirit, a God who exists in the spirit form only. The supernatural is a being who we call God and who has no mortality (1 Timothy 6:16). He is a self-existing and self-sustaining energy-providing giver of life.

The immortal created everything visible and invisible and rules over the creations, and he is God (Genesis 1:1; John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2; Colossians 1:16). The Bible says of the immortal as the one who gives life to all creatures and beings. John 1:4 says, In Him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. He is the immortal life-giver, the creator of everything. He is the God who became flesh or took his incarnation as a human. God expressed himself to us in three forms—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The word used for God in Hebrew is Elohim, which is a plural. Therefore, it verifies the Trinity of God, the one and only God who exists in their three individual forms. The name Jesus means savior and is the English translation of Jehoshua, meaning Jehovah will save or Meshiak (Hebrew) or Messiah in English. The name Jehovah was created by Jewish Scholars, by combining ‘Jhvh’. ‘J’ is pronounce as ‘Y’ in Hebrew.

In the fifth century BC, they combined JHVH and "Elohim and made the word Jehovah Elohim, which means Lord God. Therefore, in the Old Testament, God was addressed as Jehovah, the main term for God in the New Testament. There are others such as J. Bowker discussed about the name of God in his online article on God a Brief History—The Human Search For Eternal Truth."

The names of God are described when he researched the history of Torah. Torah is the Jewish bible, the first five books of the Christian Bible. Torah was given by God to Moses, the savior of Jews from Egypt. Bowker described that there are four sources for the Torah. They are J (Yahwist), E (Elohist), D (Deuteronomistic), and P (Priestly). He stated that it is most likely that these sources are not texts, but particular groups of individuals who were initially responsible for the composition and transmission of these God-given laws into what we call Torah.

Before Christ, Torah and the prophets’ words were taken as the Word of God by people of God, and they meditated on them and lived by them. So when the name of God was called, they called JHAVH, which sounded as Yaweh or Elohim, and later Jehovah Elohim or Jehovah. The P (Priestly) was applied to the compilation of the Torah by the priests who implemented them.

This is included to establish the real God out of the common terminology used for God, which was El. It was important at the time when Jewish scholars came up with addressing God by name. They came up with the name Jehovah or Jehovah Elohim. It kind of identified the living God, the God of Israel.

The question is, how can a mortal make a connection with the Great Spirit, Jehovah, or God the immortal? The mortal is dead in spirit, so he can’t communicate with God, nor God can communicate with mortals. So God had showed Adam and Eve how to approach him after their fall or they sinned and lost the glory of God. God sacrificed an animal in the Garden of Eden and forgave their sin and clothed them with the skin of the animal. The sacrifice was passed on to their children and next generation by Adam and Eve. They must lay their hand on the animal’s head and lay all their sins on the innocent animal and then slay the animal in place of them. Because of the shedding of the blood of the lamb or animal per God-given law, in propitiation of their sins, God forgives them. Then, they can pray to God.

God planned the death of his son Jesus Christ in the fullness of time as born of the virgin woman, under the law (Galatians 4:4). But this promise was given to Adam and Eve by God himself, before they were removed from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). So the sacrificial animal was an image of the Lamb of God Jesus to come and die on the cross for the sins of the humanity. God foresees the death of his son and forgave the sins of human beings, those who did the prescribed sacrifice and confession of their sins.

This rule of law was not written at the time, but passed on by parents to children, as Adam passed on first to Cain and Abel and then his next son Seth. Cain killed Abel out of anger, since Cain brought a sacrifice of fruit and vegetables, but nothing with blood sacrifice, and was not accepted by God. He showed himself as the self-righteous worshipper. There was nothing wrong with his offerings other than they were not ordained by God. Vegetables and fruits cannot typify death by the shedding of blood. In the plan of salvation, God wants humans to understand that he or she is eligible for death. By passing the punishment on the animal, he or she saves his or her life from punishment of eternal death. It also tells us that all our self-made righteousness is like filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6).

Adam and Eve’s next-born son Seth passed on the rule of meeting with God to next generations. In the time of the Old Testament, they prepared altars as prescribed by the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). They must have followed the footsteps of people before them—Noah, Seth, and his father Adam. Altars were made for worship as it was shown by fathers to next generations. This went on until God gave the law to Moses in Mount Sinai (Exodus 19–23). These are the common laws and the Ten Commandments. Later on in their journey to Canaan, God gave them the laws for sacrifices and offerings in Leviticus. From there, we come to the history of Elijah’s altars and how he prepared them in the book of second kings in the Bible.

They prepared the animal for the offering and placed it on the prepared altar before God and called upon the name of Jehovah. The animal was killed for the sins of people. The Book of Exodus describes how God delivered people through the sacrifice of lamb (Exodus 16). The blood of the lamb smeared on the doorframes of their houses was the blood that would redeemed them (Exodus 12–13). In the Bible and in Jewish tradition, it is called as the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb was a symbol of the real Lamb of God, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7). Also, John the Baptist witnessed to his disciples, pointing to Jesus, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29). When they killed the Passover lamb and ate its roasted meat with bitter herbs, they were told that the real Passover lamb will come one day and die for them and the rest of humanity, a bitter death for their salvation and the rest of the world.

So, just as God promised in Genesis 3:15,

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring, or seed of hers; he will crush Or strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

So, Jesus came; lived a victorious life; handed over to crucifixion. By his death, he crushed the head of the serpent, buried and resurrected from the dead. He ascended to heaven after forty days with his disciples, glorified, and sat at the right hand of the majesty of God.

Also prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). Micah prophesied the place of his birth.

But you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans, or rulers of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. (Micah 5:2, NIV)

Lord Jesus was God, before the time began, and he was with the father in the beginning. When we say beginning, Jesus said that he is the beginning and the end. I am the First and the Last (Revelation 1:17). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—all three persons in the Godhead have one essence. When Jesus states, I am, he identifies the Trinity, the triune God.

Isaiah also prophesied Jesus’s suffering and death for the sins of mankind (Isaiah 53). Then, Isaiah prophesied Jesus’s rule on earth.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. (Isaiah 11:1–4, NIV).

He is physically the son of David, the son of Jesse. He ruled with his word, which is the rod of his mouth. Also according to all the other prophets, God Jesus took his incarnation in the form of his son. Therefore, John the Baptist witnessed on him, saying, Here is the lamb of God who is carrying the sins of the World (John 1:29). The Gospel of John says,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome or understood it. (John 1:1–5, NIV)

Then, the word of God continues in verse 14, "The Word became flesh and made